You are heretics. Condemned by the God-Emperor for your crimes and sentenced to imprisonment, torture and eventuallydeath by the Inquisition. Though your crimes are varied, you share a similar fate, having been hunted down and captured byagents of the Imperium and incarcerated aboard the Chains of Judgement, a prison barge on a course for the core worlds ofthe Calixis Sector and its capital Scintilla, where the dungeons of the Tricorn Palace await you. Befitting your nature as dangerouscriminals, you were placed in stasis, held in a state of limbo to ride out the journey, powerless to change your fate. Now youhave awoken, the feeble lights of the stasis crypt greeting you as you stumble from your casket. Strangely though, no leeringguards or armoured troopers stand waiting with manacles ready.Looking around you see others like yourself emerge from theirown caskets. You also note the walls and floor are thick with dust and age. You cannot help but wonder; just how long have youslumbered, and what has happened in that time?

Kryator slowly starts to waken and begins to move his stiff muscles. He says to himself, "Blasted stasis i will not go to that prison they will kill me first." he opens his eyes hungry to kill the awaiting guards and when he sees there's none Kryator says, "What in the name of the Warp is going on? is this a trap? A way to kill me before we get to the prison?" He then notices the rust, "What happened, this ship should not be in such disrepair... surely the followers of the false Emperor would never let this happen to a ship.."

Hephastus slowly wakes up from stasis. His senses still groggy from the long slumber, he is able to hear 2 others waking up from hibernation. He walks out of the stasis tube and starts a scan of his systems, trying to detect anything went awry during stasis.

As everything seems in check he notices that there are no guards awaiting him, but two other convicts. He ponders for a seconded wondering who they are but then decides that it wasnt important and proceeds to examine the cogitator in the center, hoping to find out what happened.

From your previous experience in the Mechanicus, you can deduce that the ship's disrepair is likely a system failure rather than anything intentional.

The cogitator's display screen is operational, with a blinking series of status updates.

The first entries in the cogitator’s memory list your names and the dates when you were interred. A notation indicates you were to be taken toInstallation Obsidian Magna for debrief and summary termination. A second notation mentions that certain items in your possession attime of capture were held in “Investigative Laboratorium V.”

He notices the other two, not recognizing them from his Legion but noting they are fellow chaos marines, "What does that infernal machine tell you techpriest? Are they baiting us? If so let them come. I will tear them limb from limb." he staggers a bit as he regains his balance after a century or stiffness is stasis and walks next to the ex-mechanicum priest." "You!" he points to the other marine exiting his casket, Whats your name and Legion?"

Having been looking over the heretic techpriest's shoulder while he was accessing the Cogitator, Krull notes two lines of text out of the data logs. “Investigative Laboratorium V.”“Stasis crypt operations switching to emergency standby. Stasis caskets deactivating. Lockdown protocols inactive.”

Turning to address both of them, he lowly states,

"Enough of this confusion! We must head for the laboratorium and retrieve whats left of our equipment. I also have a feeling we might encounter more convicts along the way.."

"You Techpriest, what functions can you access through this cogitator?"

Unfortunately, you find that little information is accessible through the cogitator- most of the information is heavily encrypted and guarded, and it would be both time-consuming and risky to maintain communion with its machine spirit for the length of time it would take to bypass its defenses. However, you are able find that the terminal offers to deploy a "remote access point" due to the nature of the ship's emergency standby.

"Let us not waste time then. But be wary. Someone over rid our stasis. This is no accident that we are the only ones alive." he heads over to the door, "Brother lets get this door open. We need our weapons and armor, even the strength of the chaos gods will not keep us alive in the fight."

"Can either of you see something we can pry this blasted door open with?" he says as he glances around his surroundings

Kryator: A rudimentary scan of the room reveals an intact crowbar, crudely lodged into the lid of an empty stasis casket.

As you speak, a servo-skull is deployed forth from a column off the wall that is interlaced with sputtering wires. It hovers in theair briefly, before approaching the group. It is equipped with cogitator-interfacing equipment. It simply states:

firstandonly246: "We will be back with some fresh meat."☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "We better not piss this thing off."firstandonly246: "Shall we proceed to the Sanctum then?"☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "Lets go." he turns and jogs toward the Sanctum.Ichor: The long journey to the sanctum gate is now relatively easier, with the luxury of hindsight.Ichor: Soon, you find yourself in the same position as before, but now you posses the Command Key to unseal the impossibly thick adamantium slab.☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "Servo, would you mind placing the key in its proper place?"☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "Better it than us."firstandonly246: "Agreed"Ichor: The Servo-skull proceeds to take the key, travelling through the entire hallway with little trouble.Ichor: Inserting the key into the gaping, socket, the door parts ways.☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "Krull ready your support weapon."emp.Area 51: "Very well"emp.Area 51: *sets up a field of fire ready to fire upon anyone once the door opens*☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "We should honor our word. I would not want to deal with the repricusions we may suffer."firstandonly246: "Remember to only wound them. We need them to be alive."emp.Area 51: "oh right"firstandonly246: "Having the turrets been deactivated?"firstandonly246: have*Ichor: The door slides fully open, revealing a passageway into the Upper Decks. The path however, is far from safe- collapsed sections of the ship distort your way where decks have fallen from above, creating a nightmare of bulkheads and warped corridors. Ichor: The servo skull responds with a simple "Affirmative"☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "This is getting VERY annoying!"firstandonly246: "Lets get moving, i want to get of this barge as soon as possible."emp.Area 51: "well, off we go then."Ichor: Passing along, you soon notice another legend indicating that the ship's living quarters are not far off. Infact, it is in the very next section after the one that lies before you. A blast door is positioned at the forefront of the section.Ichor: There are two bodies next to it, clad in void suits.emp.Area 51: "Perhaps we should search those bodies?☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "Servo what is on the other side of this door?"firstandonly246: *searches bodies*Ichor: "Corridor 85-B. Warning- Section suffers Vaccum breach and plasma containment failure."☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "Is there an alternate route?"Ichor: 1st Body- Void Suit, note 2nd Body- 1 Hellpistol Clip, Void Suit, Ploin Juice.firstandonly246: *Grabs void suit and hell pisotl clip*Ichor: "Negative. Alternative passageway locked."☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "How do we open it?"Ichor: The servitor, instead of responding, proceeds to access the cogitator and unseal the door.☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "Well that was easy..."firstandonly246: *laughs* "Agreed."emp.Area 51: "Make Ready"firstandonly246: *readies pistol*Ichor: Once you step inside the blast door, you find yourself in a dark corridor, filled with a thick churning liquid. It is promethium.emp.Area 51: "Just wonderful"firstandonly246: *lowers pisto* "Might not want to fire in here."emp.Area 51: "Switch to melee"☢--Cyanide X13--☢: *readys chain axe* move at a brisk pace Krull is next to useless in here."emp.Area 51: "hey I can still kill"☢--Cyanide X13--☢: "I would rather have your stubber at the ready than your fists."emp.Area 51: "As would I"

You suddenly hear a thready whisper scratching at the back of your mind, as if someone was speaking inside your skull. “Crane... he is your enemy. He is our enemy... yes... be warned. Crane has sent his minions to defeat you. The murderers... the servitors. He has sent his proxies to take control of them. They are on the gun deck... hurry...”

As you forge your way through the promethium flooded alleyway, the path ahead begins to thicken with the likeness of a strange vine. With further analysis, the encroaching vines appear to resemble a coarse vine or ivy, their tendrils tipped with a single fleshy leaf. It is a dull grey in color, and it does not seem to mind the dim, nutrient-poor environment.

Unfortunately, the only access to the Gun Decks is through the shell lifts, and this pathway is the only alternative to the void-breached room, as stated by the skull probe. The liquid beneath you steadily churns with various debris as you progress onwards. Perhaps a rudimentary search (Challenging +0 Awareness Test) may yield useful material.